“Daniel Dale was on public property; he was never on Ford’s property,” said Toronto Star spokesman Bob Hepburn. “He was following up on a story when Ford came out of his house, off his property, and cornered Daniel, yelling at him. The mayor had his fist cocked, yelling at him to drop his cellphone and tape recorder, which Daniel did.”

Ford spoke to reporters outside his Etobicoke home around 10 p.m. and admitted to chasing Dale, but accused him of snapping photos outside while standing on cinder blocks.

“You know, it’s over the top. You may not agree with my politics, don’t start taking pictures of my family,” Ford said of his long-standing conflict with the newspaper. “My wife’s home, my kids are home.”

Dale said he was taking photos of the fence and trees with his cellphone. There were no people in the area, he said.

Ford also said he had police there “and if I have to press charges, I will.”

Toronto police said they were investigating a call to the mayor’s home for a possible trespasser.

The Star was not able to reach Ford’s spokesperson Wednesday night by press time.

Dale, an award-winning Toronto Star journalist who was just last week honoured with a National Newspaper Award and has twice been named young journalist of the year, has worked at city hall since Ford took office and would be a familiar face to the mayor.

Dale said that after learning on Wednesday that Ford had asked the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to buy TRCA land adjacent to his house to build a “better” fence to stop trespassers and to protect his family, he went out to the site.

“In his letter (to the TRCA), Ford said the land was a ‘vacant’ parcel; a TRCA official told me it was actually a sliver of city-operated parkland that had mature trees,” said Dale.

“I decided that I needed to visit the property to see what it actually looked like. I also wanted to see if Ford’s home already had a fence. And I wanted to see where the land was actually located; the TRCA’s map was confusing.”

Dale arrived at 7:30 p.m., walked around the parkland making notes. He was standing about 10 metres from Ford’s backyard fence and said his phone died as he attempted to take photos of the trees and fencing — and not Ford’s backyard, as the mayor has suggested.

“Moments later, the mayor appeared, wearing a white campaign t-shirt, at the sole entrance and exit to the parcel of property; he had walked around from the front of his house. He appeared extremely agitated.”

Dale said Ford yelled “are you spying on me?” several times.

In response, Dale said he “shouted, astonished, that I was not — that I was writing about his attempt to buy TRCA land. He began to approach me at a brisk walk, asking again, at an escalating volume, if I was spying. I continued to plead that I was writing about the land.

“At some point, perhaps 10 or 15 seconds into the encounter, he cocked his fist near his head and began charging at me at a full run. I began pleading with him, as loud as I could, with my hands up, for him to stop. I yelled, at the top of my lungs, something like, ‘Mayor Ford, I’m writing about the land! I’m just looking at the land! You’re trying to buy the TRCA land!’ ”

When Ford demanded he drop his phone, Dale complied.

“Every time I tried to sidestep him to escape, he moved with me and yelled at me again to drop my phone. I became more frightened than I can remember; after two or three attempts to dart away, I threw my phone and my recorder down on the grass, yelled that he could take them, and ran.

“When I reached the park’s parking lot, a fair distance away, I approached two young men who were sitting in a car, asking them to use their phone. The mayor, looking in our direction, continued to shout, and I ran to my car and drove away.”

The mayor told CP24 that Dale was screaming.

“It was like unbelievable what he was doing and I caught the guy cold. It’s unbelievable what he did and I'm not going to put up with it. I've got the police here and if I've got to press charges I will. It’s pretty emotional. It’s tough on my neighbour. It’s tough on my family.”

Doug Ford, speaking to media Wednesday night, called the incident harassment, but said his brother “shouldn’t have went up and confronted” Dale.

Early Thursday morning, two police officers visited the Star newsroom to arrange an interview with Dale at the station. The police said they would return Dale's phone and recorder.

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